Day 17
The Woman is still in the same basement. Another day has passed, and she is even more distressed. She sits in a corner and holds her head in her hands. The sound of steps. She stands up, runs to the door and shouts for help.
The Woman: Help…. Please, help me…Is somebody there? Do you hear me?…Please, help me…
The door opens, and the Man comes in. He has a backpack on his shoulder. The Woman pushes him unexpectedly and runs away. He runs after her. The room is empty for a while. Loud shouting and banging can be heard from outside. The man brings her back to the room, throws her into a corner and closes the door.
The Woman: You are crazy…. You are foolish and mad. [Shouting] Help!…Please, somebody help me…
The Man: Stop shouting. Nobody can hear you. [calmer] How are you?
The Woman: How dare you? How am I? I have been here for 5 days. Have you gone mad?
The Man: When you left me without telling me where you were going, I had the same feeling.
The Woman: I can do whatever I like, and I came back after 10 days to clarify things.
The Man: And I came back just after 5 days.
The Woman: I did not lock you up in a basement. What kind of revenge is this? Stupid, indeed.
The Man: This is not a revenge, this is a decision.
The Woman: What decision?
The Man: I have a duty.
The Woman: What duty?
The Man: You will know that soon. I am sorry for your loss.
The Woman: How did you know?
The man: I know!
The Woman: Very kind of you to provide me with such a peaceful place to mourn my father!
The Man: I had no other choice but to lock you up here. Otherwise, you would have escaped again.
The Woman: I can do whatever I like. You speak as if I am your prey.
The Man: We both were each other’s prey. You know that better than I do. We never talked about it, though. We pretended we had a simple, ordinary life together, but our life together was neither simple nor ordinary. That is why you left me.
The Woman: I left you because I was choking. I had to find myself…. And I did. So I came back to talk to you…to speak about the dark sides of our relationship and end it.
The Man: Talking will not resolve the impact of the traumas that we suffered.
The Woman: So, what can resolve them?
The Man Doesn’t answer. Silence for a while.
The Woman: I want to go upstairs. Open the door.
The Man: No! Not yet!
The Woman: What is this silly game?
The Man: (Melancholic) I said the same thing when you left me, but I gradually realised that it was not a game…At least, it is not ‘a SILLY game’… It is the most serious chapter of our story, a story that began years ago with our fathers, far before we even met. We have to face our fears. For the first time in our lives we have to put aside our masks and show the violent part of our souls…The part which makes a king kill all the women in his land.
The Woman: Snap out of One Thousand and One Night. Stop pretending. I came back to clarify the same issues.
The man: I am not pretending. Theirs was as real as our problem.
The Woman: What do you exactly want from me?
The Man: To accept your defeat and pay your booty.
The Woman: This is not a war.
The Man: This is a war in which the two sides, you and I, love each other. But the love part does not change its essential nature; it is a war.
The Woman: You are crazy. You are the first person who will be interrogated if something happens to me.
The Man: That was why I went to St Andrews. I pretended I was looking for you. No one will even consider the possibility of me being in contact with you, at least a hundred people would testify that I was looking for you, including Aflah.
The Woman attacks the Man. But she is not strong enough, and he pushes her back. She stumbles, but does not fall.
The Man: Stop this. We don’t need to fight. I asked you to accept your defeat and pay your booty. Talking or fighting do not resolve our problems. Dying does.
Darkness.
I was moved by the play. The construction is well thought out and absorbing. The author has blended stories beautifully. Just one point St Andrews does have a West coast ( a place called west sands exists)